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Brain Chemicals and Porn Addiction: Science Shows How Porn Harms Us

Recent research is telling us a lot about the brain when it comes to watching porn.

Over a decade ago, Dr. Judith Reisman called porn an “erototoxin,” theorizing that the brain itself might be damaged while watching porn. She speculated that future brain studies would reveal that the surge of neurochemicals and hormones released when someone watches porn has measurably negative effects on the brain.

Recent studies are validating her theory about brain chemicals and porn addiction.

What Brain Scans Tell Us About Porn Addiction

Cambridge Neuropsychiatrist Valerie Voon was featured last year in the UK documentary Porn on the Brain. Her research demonstrates that the brains of habitual porn users show great similarity to the brains of alcoholics. A brain structure called the ventral striatum plays a significant role in the reward system of the brain—the pleasure pathways. It is the same part of the brain that “lights up” when an alcoholic sees a picture of a drink.

The Brain Chemicals of Porn and Sex

In The Porn Circuit, Sam Black describes the various hormones and neurotransmitters involved when someone views porn and how each ingredient in this neuro-cocktail contributes to the problem:

When having sex or watching porn, dopamine is released into a region of the brain responsible for emotion and learning, giving the viewer a sense of sharpfocus and a sense of craving: “I have got to have this thing; this is what I need right now.” It supplies a great sense of pleasure. The next time the viewer gets the “itch” for more sexual pleasure, small packets of dopamine are released in the brain telling the user: “Remember where you got your fix last time. Go there to get it.”

Norepinephrine is also released, creating alertness and focus. It is the brain’s version of adrenaline. It tells the brain, “Something is about to happen, and we need to get ready for it.”

Sex or porn also trigger the release of oxytocin and vasopressin. These hormones help to lay down the long-term memories for the cells. They “bind” a person’s memories to the object that gave him or her the sexual pleasure.

The body releases endorphins, natural opiates that create a “high,” a wave of pleasure over the whole body.

After sexual release serotonin levels also change, bringing a sense of calm and relaxation.

This system works the way it is supposed to work when you’re having sex with your spouse. Together you can experience a high, an alertness of sexual pleasure, and the deep calm afterwards (norepinephrine, endorphins, and serotonin). With each sexual embrace you are emotionally bonding to this person (oxytocin and vasopressin). Over time a craving for sex is transformed into a desire for one another (dopamine).

How Porn Hijacks the Brain

Multiple problems happen when porn is used. First, instead of forming a deep connection to a person, your brain ends up “bonding” to a pornographic experience. Your brain remembers where the sexual high was experienced, and each time you desire sexual stimulation, you feel a sharp sense of focus: I’ve got to go back to the porn.

In addition, pornography gives the brain an unnatural high. In a recent TEDx talk, physiology teacher Gary Wilson explained that when men look at porn, they experience surge after surge of dopamine in the brain. The brain eventually fatigues, stopping the production of dopamine, leaving the viewer wanting more but unable to reach a level of satisfaction. As a result, everyday pleasures stop causing excitement and the viewer seeks out more novel, more intense pornography to get the same high as before.

This imbalance in the brain leads to many problems: impotence with your spouse, frequent masturbation with very little satisfaction, anxiety, fatigue, lack of motivation, inability to concentrate, and escalating tastes for more bizarre or novel porn.

The Porn Circuit

Science shows us why porn is highly addictive. Learn how
our neurochemistry is easily hijacked by porn to create
compulsive behaviors, and discover how the
brain can be rewired to escape porn's allure.

I was stuck in the bonds of pornography for many years. I went through the Pure Desire curriculum which Dr. ted Roberts put together, and in that curriculum he talked about many of the physical, chemical things that happen in our brains during an addiction, and in particularly a pornography addiction. I had so much guilt and shame over the addiction but once I understood that there were things happening inside of my head that contributed to me continuing to look at it, it wasn’t an excuse for me, but it helped tremendously to know that there was more of a reason aside from me just being a disgusting pig as to why it was so hard for me to stop. If you are stuck in a porn addiction, understanding the things that Luke wrote above is really a key piece in not just breaking the addiction but in helping in your healing afterwards. Thanks for talking about this portion of the addiction Luke. I have always thought it’s a critical piece. My story is at http://www.openrivers.wordpress.com if you want to read more about my journey there. But I have got to tell you Luke, the things you put up here have really ministered to me. Thank you.

I used to watch porn, but when I discovered that porn affects the brain, I started to crave on more information on how porn affects the brain, and when completely understood the affects, I felt different, like I didn’t even felt that I need to crave on mor porn, and porn wasn’t that interesting now, I didn’t even felt excitement or something when I last watched porn. I didn’t even felt that I needed to masturbate anymore, it became old for me. And now I can control the way I view porn. Oh and porn didn’t even affected my relationships on my siblings. I would still go out every day, whic I noticed that porn, doesn’t have affects on me now, after I understood the affects clearly. So now that porn doesn’t affects me. I still do the same things and feel the same.

Thank you and this makes a lot of sense and helps me very much. I’ve struggled with porno addiction for years, and it helps very much to know some of the exact physiological reasons porno is so harmful. I’d read Dobson’s interview w/ Ted Bundy and, as frightening as that was, I ignored the advice and continued perusing violent porno for years. But for God’s grace and for responsible men of God like you who’ve helped me, I could have and probably would have become a sex offender. The temptation is still there, but the Lord is on my side and He is bigger than any addiction. Thank you to everyone at Covenant Eyes, etc. for giving me much-needed truth in the fight against my sinful desires. Also praise be to the King of Kings, my Savior Jesus Christ.

I am a Sponsor in a 12 Step program for sexual addiction. I try to provide current information to help sponsee know just how dangerous Sex Addiction is to the body and the mind. I would like to know what information you recommend that I use to let them know the harmful effects i that porn has on the brain. I really enjoyed the article on ” Brain Chemicals and Porn Addiction.” Addiction”,

This article didn’t make sense. Sexuality is USUALLY related to a desire for relationship. Most people I’ve known who use porn prefer the relationship to the porn. In the case that they don’t, but are in a relationship, something deeper is going on (e.g. conflict in the relationship). What’s not addressed in this article is the shame placed on most self-identified sex addicts by religious systems. In my experience, when the shame is removed the “addiction” stops. More recent research debunks the findings in this article. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/women-who-stray/201307/your-brain-porn-its-not-addictive.

Interesting theory. I have no doubt that religious shame is a contributor to many people’s experiences. That’s a separate article for another day.

This article mentions groups like YourBrainOnPorn, a completely secularist group that is now helping many men who are suffering from porn induced ED, experiencing major withdrawal symptoms and a variety of other problems. Secularist men are drawn to groups like this, not because they are feeling religious shame, but because their symptoms have started to harm their sex lives.

Tim, men don’t need religion to feel shame for sin. Our own conscience will alert us to that which is unnatural and un-Godly. If we listen to our conscience, if indeed we have one anymore, we will not need church to tell us when we do wrong.

But the benefit of CONVICTION (constructive shame) on men who feel no shame over their perversion of God’s gift of natural sexuality, is an essential alarm loud enough to get through to them, as a fool headed towards a cliff on a very pleasurable road would need.

Sexuality is ORIGINALLY related to (indeed – DESIGNED for) a desire for relationship, to form and solidify the bond between parents to make a stable home for their offspring, the natural result of sex, which is, after all “reproduction.”

But nowadays, with cheap stimulation of the brain’s sexual centers at every turn, the USUALLY which you reference is now the rarity, not the rule. Shamelessness is actually what defines our porn-addicted society, not its deliverance. Research that suggests otherwise is thoroughly unreliable, in the same was that Nazi anthropological studies on the sub-human nature of Jews was.

Porn has reprogrammed our society, and it takes focused resistance to keep from being perverted in our brain chemistry so that we don’t crave fake relationships in pictures and videos and fantasies that we ourselves can control. That perversion is the new norm in the West.

Removing shame is not the answer. Answering it is. The “Check Engine” light on your car should lead you to diagnose the problem, because, PROBLEM there is! Remove shame as though it were the enemy, and you set a new generation of young men on a downward slope into oblivion, WITH NO SHAME. Would one remove smoke detectors from a hotel? That is a CRIME! So is the removal of shame over sexual immorality.

Hitler himself derided the Christian faith for the way it made men feel guilty for doing what was “natural.” This is a path of destruction, no matter whose “research” one cites.

Tim, stay with CE articles and ponder them regularly as you contrast them with Psych Today writings. Test your own heart by the words of each, not what you want to be true, and you will see clearly. Brutal honesty with yourself always produces fruit.

Those of us who have escaped porn’s grip know the value of CONVICTION if we respond in the right way. But pure shame only beats one down with no hope of rebirth or renewal. Learn the difference.

This is a good article, but a slight clarification is in order: porn and other addictive behaviors don’t necessarily decrease the amount of dopamine released, it down regulates dopamine receptors (d2 receptors especially.) this is a neuroplastic change that is reversible if you give your brain a break from overstimulation for a few months.

My name is Jayden Tuma i am 14 years old and addicted to pornagraphy. It started about one or two years ago when my cousin showed me a playboy magazine and as soon as i say the first couple of pages i was hooked on it. My mom has already found out about it but no matter what i can’t stop (and i really want to stop,heck my mom even threatened me saying the next time she found out that she would send me to a rehab center). I’ve read many articles about how bad porn is for your body and mind but pornagraphy is to addicting. If you guys know any website that can help me stop looking at porn that would be greatly appreciated.

Hi Jayden. Thanks for sharing. I would highly recommend you read this other article about how porn impacts the brain on our blog. It addresses why you often feel like you don’t have any real willpower when it comes to porn. It also gives you practical ideas about how to (1) cut yourself off from porn, and (2) build up your mind so you can create new, good habits to replace the bad ones.

I also encourage you to talk to your mom about this after you read this article. It would be sad if this issue was causing a rift between you and her. Help her to see that you want to make a plan to stop using porn and there are tools available to help people overcome, but you need her help look for potential area of weakness. Hopefully, she’ll be really happy that you are making an honest effort and taking real, concrete steps to change.

The key ingredient to any strategy you use is humility. It is too easy, in the heat of the moment, to give into temptation and throw out all your plans. This is why right now, while you have a clear head, you need to make an escape plan knowing the day of temptation will come. When you are at your best, plan for your worst.

Hi Jayden, I was also 14 when i got caught up in the bad habit of masturbation and it nearly ruined my life, thanks to the saving power of God that gave me hope to fight on.
its really a good thing you desire to cut this off as early as possible. Its already more than one year that you posted this comment and i do hope you got that victory.
Praying for you. Only the power of Gods forgiveness that sets us free!
I do appreciate your desire and willingness to ask how to break free from this bad sinful habit.

great article , i am addicted on pornography and masturbation for more than 15 yrs ,Is there any way to stop this bad habit. I tried many times to stop it but all of them are failed . the longest period of prevention ofwatching porn and masturb was 1 month . and i felt depression during the days with trials of prevention of masturbation . thx excuse me for my bad english.

Hello, I’ve noticed that pornography use causes incredibly significant declines in an individual’s working and short-term memory, problem-solving ability, common sense, long-term memory, attention, decision making, ability to suppress urges, concentration, focus, and general intelligence. This is due to the considerable damage done to the frontal lobe and prefrontal cortex of the human brain. Having experienced this myself, I can personally attest to my lack in motivation, interest, and noticeable declines in my overall intelligence. While I never became addicted, I noticed I could not think with the same mental clarity I had before, I could not seem to find interest in things I loved, and being an intellectually gifted and generally happy tennager before, those traits tended to massively decline over time. My spiritual relationship was practically in shreds and while I remained a committed Christian, the guilt and shame of what I engaged in, and the fact I could never break free really hurt my ability to experience the beauty of Jesus Christ. But, after I had confessed my yearlong struggle to my Christian parents, I was finally able to break free, experience clarity, think clearly, and have permanent, colossal boots in memory, intelligence and intellectual aptitude, motivation, decision making, etc. My common sense and problem-solving ability was back! I could experience an open relationship with my wonderful parents and have multitudinous amounts of social relationships with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Above all, I could experience the incredibly captivating beauty and glorious nature of God’s presence, his love, and could really experience a burning passion for God in my Christian walk. I’m so happy I followed the tug of the Holy Spirit and finally confessed my year-long struggle to my parents.

I now understand the powerful nature of porn, its detrimental impact on the brain, and how it sucks a person into its sadistic world filled with countless lies.
Yet, I have one question, knowing porn can ruin a person’s personality and destroy their intelligence, how is it that some porn stars have high IQ’s (Asia Carrera)? Of course, this doesn’t justify the nature of what they’re doing, but how is that even possible, knowing what it can do to a person and having experienced it myself?

I think the answer to your question is that IQ is not solely dependent on one’s moral beliefs or one’s addictive tendencies. Furthermore, just because someone acts in pornography does not mean they are actually addicted to anything sexual. Some people just do porn for the money or the fame; it is a job, a career.

hi
I really enjoyed your article, iam actually struggling the evil pornography for almost a year now, It actually makes me feel inferior and less important before God and my peers. i need a final and permanent solution please. Thank you sir

Remember the good news about Christ: God has come near to us through His Son. In His death, he bore the sins of the whole world so that united to Him, we will not be condemned. In His resurrection, He lives with God forever, paving the way to the Father in heaven. United to Him, we aren’t merely forgiven. We are adopted into His family: the favor Christ experiences now is the same way the Father looks at all those who are united to Jesus in faith.

If you are in Christ, you belong to God. As far as God is concerned, you are already His. God’s love for you cannot be overstated. He loves you with an endless love, and you have done nothing to merit it or deserve it. He loves you despite all your unlovability, despite your lingering sinful desires. Though in your sin you are undeserving and undesirable, He loves you when your mind disavows it, your heart dodges it, and your soul dismisses it. He loves you right now as you are, not as you think you should be.

I highly recommend you get a free copy of our book, Your Brain on Porn. It addresses a lot of these principles that lead to freedom.

I have had a problem with porn for about 10 months, and about two weeks ago i quit. I have experienced decreased motivation, depression, and anxiety from dealing with this issue. I used to be a highly motivated teenager with an interest in science and math, but now i don’t feel as motivated as I used to.
My question is can my motivation come back? I know it is related to the dopamine in my brain, but I am worried that my brain won’t be able to change back to the way it was. Is the change permanent or can it be reversed with time?

i watched the video, your brain on porn, read the book , the porn circuit and i have got fair knowledge about how porn and masturbation spoils our mind and body. thanks to you people for shedding the light on this subject. but, i still have the problem. i have been porn and masturbation addict from 15 years, tried thousand times to quit and failed. when i get tempted the of knowledge of brain chemicals doesn’t help me to stop masturbating. is there any practical thing to overcome the strong urge? please help me…

I’M also fighting with this sinful desires but to no avail, today’s my 4th week of quitting masturbation,but I don’t experience any change of how it has left a great loss of my memory and intelligence, I feel so exhausted.these habits have made me failed my final exams for about three times.It really pains me,and sometimes I feel to commit suicide.please help me out.I really hate my self now. I really need you urgently.

Finally, I want to tell you that you are God’s precious child. He loves you and cares for you and has plans for your future, that are for your good. I know that things are tough right now, but please don’t give up. Take the next breath, and keep taking the next breath. Talk to your family and friends and your doctor, and get help. There IS help. You CAN feel better and get well. Please don’t give up right now. Please take the next steps toward healing.

I will repeat this information in a personal email to you; I wanted to post my recommendations here, though, in case they might be helpful to someone else who feels like you do.

Thanks to the author, Mr. Gilkerson for starting the public discussion here about this extremely important topic. He raises very good points in the article, I’d like to add a bit about dopamine.

Recent studies reveal that brain dopamine receptors are getting drained by online porn consumption, leading to more cravings with porn. This ‘numbs’ our brain’s reward circuitry, making higher levels of stimulation necessary for us to feel good again. This leads to a large variety of mental and eventually physical symptoms too, such as erectile dysfunction.

I got lucky to get accepted into a scientific program testing phase that, among other things, evaluates the effects of porn consumption on our brains. From what I know the program is due to be launched soon at http://revivedme.com.

I got a highly detailed analysis which points out that porn consumption is in fact one of the major reasons for my various symptoms such as general fatigue, loss of motivation, excessive anxiety and so on. I’ve been following their detailed recovery instructions now for 5 weeks and things are definitely turning better now. I can feel my motivation slowly getting restored and overall I feel better and happier. I also used to feel consistently sick, but now I’ve noticed I feel healthier too. My erectile dysfunction is getting better but still persists. According to my analysis it should not even start to properly heal until the 8th week so I am very optimistic.

Several years ago in a discussion with Oz Guinness, he stated that the philosophy that follows postmodernism is that everything in life is chemical. Next up, we select a marriage partner, or sex partner because of a chemical attraction: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pheromones-sex-lives/ What did we ever do before brain science explained it all. The church needs to develop a purity pill to offset the chemical imbalance. Give me a break!

“We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.6 Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.” Richard Lewontin

I have seen porn from 2002.In this year,I enter high middle school.One night,I open the porn website and see the sexy images.After that,I have seen the sexy movie and image until now.I try to delete the sexy video,report the sexy website to Chinese government to try to break the outer environment.Because I can’t stop myself to see the sexy video,image and tele-books.I don’t have girlfriend yet.I’m 30 years old,No girlfriend in 30 years.After seen the porn,each time I will masturbation.I will chat more with you later.If you have fund in field,support me.I will open the class in my city,in Changsha,to teach other males how to break the porn habit.Looking forwards to your reply.

I m Indian. lives in small town. now I m 18 years old ..I feel very weak after musterbration…I m low weighted too…I look so shavy bcuz thinness. I started musterbration since last 2 years..and my willpower is lowest.

I dated a guy that was doing porn. I learned in the years of dating him that he has been doing porn for 43years and counting. One time I woke up in the middle of the night and saw he was in his office quickly changing the screen, he heard me get up. One of our many times we had an argument and he had sent a sweet email apologizing so I went straight to his apartment thinking that we could work out our differences. Long story short: he showed me soft porn as he watched me with wide eyes looking quickly at the screen and me to see if I would get aroused. I was not amused and he was mad because he did not get sex. He wanted make up sex. He has Covenant Eyes on his computer but it apparently did not cover all the sights: you tube and whatever sights he uses. He has used sex to manipulate his wives. He gave up alcohol addiction but refuses to give up his porn and sex addiction. He will lie and say he is no longer a porn addict or sex addict.

So in essence a person devoutly religious gets the same rush of brain chemicals when they go to church and see all the iconography, the idols of Mary, and the half naked image of Christ. They get an addictive rush that binds them to the feelings of moral superiority the get by making and breaking promises each week, with the assurance that they are forgiven.
Trading one crippling addiction for another does not seem healthy nor a cure. Christianity is rooting in denying the carnal desires we evolved with. If you care to do research on your religion, you would know that early founders of the Church were ascetic and thought sex was disgusting and that marriage was a little better and preached permanent abstinence. Only the pure so to speak could be good Christians and so was born celibacy. The more I delved into the history of Christianity and its theologians, the more ridiculous its stance on sex became. Sorry, I have enjoyed porn for over 40 years. I am a multi degreed professional, raised two kids, have never accosted a woman and am no Ted Bundy. Sorry but his execution side interview with Dr. Dobson was just another example of how the man manipulated people right up to the day they fried him. Apparently the majority of people agree with me and demonstrate it with their wallets. In Europe they’ve know porn has been a healthy outlet for sexual impulses for nearly fifty years. I have been watching the theologians try to reinforce their hatred of Porn since the seventies, and they move from one scientific revelation after another trying to get some purchase in their fight, but always failing to do so. Now it isn’t that it makes you a rapist, or killer, now it turns you into a brain drug addict unable to function in normal society. That recalls the old claims in the 1800’s that masturbation would turn you into a drooling idiot. If that’s the case Catholics and Mormons with large families would be suffering from the same affliction it seems since they need to climax often in order to have so many offspring. It seems to me as a scientist that the Lord or evolution would not make orgasm inherently detrimental to the human body or psyche, that would be self defeating. Rather it is arguably up there at the top of human drives, behind food and water. Our drive to sex is why we are so successful as a species. Religion on the other hand seems to be way down there at the bottom, something people only reach for when they are scared or near death, when all the other primal drives are gone and the conclusion is foregone. Having owned a bar and seen alcoholics, you might want to know that not all alcoholics are addicted to the drug. In my experience more people who drink to excess are suffering from an underlying mental defect like bipolar disorder or depression. They can stop when their problem subsides or is treated with drugs. Most do not even know they have a problem, but drink only to cope with this unknown thing going on in their heads. My wife was one of those. So generalizations and trading one addiction for another like AA tries to get drinkers to do heals no one.

Hello, Keith – it sounds like you’ve done a lot of work to try and understand all different sides of this. Is it possible that you’re a man who can watch a little porn and not allow it to overrun his life? I’ve just never met someone who can do that. Set religion aside. For me, the dopamine took over, and regardless of my degrees, will-power and self-sufficiency, I just wasn’t able to keep it fenced in. Porn took me over – my thoughts, it caused me to treat my kids and wife differently. I looked at all women as hyper-sexual beings. It’s not that orgasm is bad – it’s just that orgasm releases oxytocin, which causes my brain to bond with the source of the stimuli. If the source is a person, then I’ll bond to the person. Evolution would say that’s in order to keep the species going. Creationism would say that’s in order to create a one-flesh union with my spouse (as God intended). If porn becomes the stimulus, then whether you believe in God or not, the brain forms some sort of attachment to the porn.

You’re right that nothing fires up the brain’s reward center like sexual stimulation. You can believe that’s due to evolution or God. Either way, even evolutionary thinking would point towards porn as a distraction from the “real thing” (and only the real thing can keep the species going).

I’m no trying to talk you out of it. I’m just saying that I just don’t know anyone who can keep porn in check. It always leads to worse and worse stuff. Even illegal stuff sometimes. Maybe you’re different.

Helo. I have struggling porn for more than 3years. But its hurts to say that till now i am still in the path of it. Still a slave and lost of hope to be free from it. I have once thougth to commit suicide coz i couldnt stop. Do ypu think i should have end it that way?

Hello, Quiwata – I’m proud of you for leaving your comment on the blog because this is a very difficult area. I’m deeply concerned about your comments about suicide – here’s the truth…you have unmeasurable value! Your life is a precious gift and a blessing to this planet. Please find someone you can talk to about your struggles. Whenever you feel tempted, turn that trigger towards something else, even reaching out to someone you trust (I know it’s uncomfortable to talk to someone about this, but think about how much better you felt after posting this comment? Multiply that by 1,000 and that’s how it feels to speak openly with a loving, trusting person about your struggles). If you don’t have anyone you can talk to, and you start to have suicidal feelings again, promise me you’ll call this number: 1-800-273-8255, if you are in the United States. If not, please find that trusting friend.

God is for you! Quiwata, you can get through this, and it will be hard work, but it’s worth it. Remember the strength you have in Christ – Romans 8 can remind you. The cross of Jesus Christ IS strong enough to overcome everything. Even this.
Peace, Chris​

One of the articles hyperlinked in this text on erototoxin was linked to a piece from Wired entitled, Internet Porn: Worse Than Crack? Ryan Singel dated 11.19.04. A sub link was then blocked by Covenant eyes. Perhaps a different link could be suggested . thanks

The short answer is yes. Neurons that fire together long enough eventually learn to wire together. But, it takes time. It’s not difficult for someone who is addicted to porn to log 1,000 hours. How long of NOT looking at porn and rewiring time does it take to offset 1,000 hours of filth? I don’t know. But, start today!